


I want a moment to be real

by betsib



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, Slow Build, post HoH
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-02
Updated: 2014-02-02
Packaged: 2018-01-10 23:01:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1165614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betsib/pseuds/betsib
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since the war ended Leo has been working hard to find a way back to Calypso's island, but nothing seems to work. When Nico offers to help him, Leo gladly accepts. They never expected how their own feelings would change as a result.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I want a moment to be real

Nico hadn’t planned on staying around once the war was over.

After the speeches had been made, the thanks had been said and the party was in full force, Nico had planned to quietly slip away and never return. He doubted anyone would miss him much anyway. Except maybe Hazel, but she would know he was okay. Besides, she had Frank now.

That had been the plan. The only problem was that he’d made the mistake of telling Jason a month before. He hadn’t thought Jason would care enough to remember, but _somebody_ must have told Percy about it, as the son of Poseidon caught up with him just as he was getting ready to leave camp.

“Where are you going?” Percy had said. “You’re not leaving, are you?”

“Does it matter?” Nico had asked. “The battle’s done. You don’t need my help anymore. So yes, I’m leaving.”

Percy had looked really hurt at that. “But you’ll come back, right? You’ll visit, at least? Promise me!”

Nico didn’t stand a chance against Percy’s puppy eyes.

So he visited, every once in a while. It wasn’t as terrible as he had imagined. Hazel always seemed happy to see him, and he’d had lunch with Reyna a couple of times at Camp Jupiter. The demigods there still referred to him as “Ambassador of Pluto”, despite it now being obvious that he was Greek. Nico visited Camp Half-Blood too, even if seeing Percy and Annabeth so ridiculously happy still made him feel sick. He mostly hung out with Jason and Piper when he was there.

A couple of months after Gaea’s defeat Nico arrived at Camp Half-Blood to find it empty of anyone he knew. After asking around the dining area, the other campers pointed him in the direction of the forest. It took Nico a little while to locate them. He could hear their voices before he saw them.

“...still think we should break down the door,” Percy's said, sounding worried.

“He’d never forgive us if we broke something important while doing that,” Jason said. “Piper, can you try shouting again?”

“It doesn’t help is he can’t hear me,” Piper said, and Nico could see her face now. She was standing with her arms crossed, looking frustrated and worried in equal parts. “What is he even doing in there?”

“What’s who doing?” Nico asked, stepping out of the shadows and causing them all to jump. 

“Nico! You’re back!” Jason smiled when he’d collected himself. “It’s Leo, he’s locked himself into the bunker.”

“He hasn’t come out for almost two days,” Piper added. “We’re worried.”

“And now that you’re here we don’t need to smash the door,” Percy said happily. “Nico, could you shadow travel in there and see what’s going on?”

“Please, Nico,” Jason added. “He might be hurt.”

“Fine,” Nico said, and traveled

He had never been inside Bunker 9 before, though he had heard the others talk about it. For someone like who enjoyed caves and small spaces it might have been homey, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was filled to the brink with junk. Nico narrowly avoided impaling his feet on some sharp metal pieces laying around the floor for no apparent reason.

In an open space in the middle of all the junk sat Leo, hunched over some strange contraption. He looked like he hadn’t eaten or slept enough in a long time, but he was working on the machine with an expression of pure concentration on his face. Nico watched him for a moment.

“What does that thing do?” Nico asked, and Leo startled, swearing as he dropped some screws from his hands. He scowled as he turned around.

“What are you doing in here?” he asked instead of answering.

“Checking up on you,” Nico said. “When was the last time you ate anything?”

“Look who’s asking,” Leo retorted. “You’re way thinner than I am, Jack Skellington.”

Nico frowned. “Percy and the others are outside, planning to break the door if you don’t come out soon. They’re worried.”

“Worry-warts. I haven’t been here that long,” Leo muttered.

“Two days, according to Piper.”

Leo blinked. “No way,” he said, getting up from the floor. “It hasn’t been...” He trailed off, swaying slightly on his feet. Nico caught him just before he lost his balance.

“Not cool,” Leo muttered. “My head is spinning. I need to lay down.”

Nico helped him down on the floor again. Leo was holding his head.

“Shit. Don’t let them in yet,” Leo said. “They’ll never let me out of their sight again if they see me now.”

“Maybe they shouldn’t.”

“So I screwed up once, big deal,” Leo said. “What do you care, anyway? Just wait until my head stops spinning to let them in.”

“What were you trying to do?” Nico asked.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Fine,” Nico said, turning to walk towards the door.

“Wait, where are you going?” Leo shouted. “You won’t be able to open the lock anyway. I designed it myself.”

“Maybe, but it's still just a padlock,” Nico said. He stuck his Stygian iron sword into the shackle and twisted hard. The lock never stood a chance. “There. Door open.”

“I hate you,” Leo muttered behind him as Nico opened the door and gestured for their waiting friends to enter. Figuring they wouldn’t have time for him today anyway, Nico walked back into the shadows and traveled away.

***

A few weeks after the _incident_ Leo was glad to be in the bunker again, alone and without interferences. Piper, Annabeth and Percy were all visiting their mortal parents, while Jason was in Camp Jupiter for some sort of training exercise, which meant he had all the time in the world to work on finding a way back to Calypso’s island. He had been so sure he could do it, he still was, but it was so much harder than he had imagined. He didn’t want to ask anyone for help, either, even if he had been forced to tell them what he was trying to do.

“Come on, you beautiful thing.” Leo muttered to his creation, trying to will it to do his bidding. Sadly, it didn’t seem to work.

“Do you always talk to your machines?” came a dry voice behind him, and Leo yelped in surprise and spun around.

Nico di Angelo was standing behind him, looking bored. The gods only knew how long he’d been there.

“What are you doing here?” Leo asked, standing up. His bones cracked, but his head wasn’t spinning this time. That was an improvement.

“Jason asked me to check up on you,” Nico said. “He was worried you’d forget to eat again.”

“Gods, that was _one time_!” Leo said, exasperated. “And if you hadn’t let them in they wouldn’t have known, so it’s your fault.”

“Right, off course it is,” Nico said, rolling his eyes. “Any luck finding the island?”

“Jason told you?” Leo asked, but Nico shook his head.

“Jason doesn’t tell other people’s secrets,” Nico said. “I heard it from Percy.”

That did seem more likely. Either way, he didn’t want to discuss this with someone like Nico. There was no way he’d understand.

“Right. Well, I’m busy here,” Leo said, turning back to the machine. “So if you’d be so kind as to back off...”

“You’re never going to reach Ogygia using machinery alone,” Nico interrupted. “You’re going to need magic.”

“Yeah? What do you know about it?” Leo said, unwilling to admit he’d been fearing that for a while now. Nico laughed humorlessly.

“Let’s see, son of Hades, passes between realms on a regular basis,” Nico mused. “You’re right. What could I _possibly_ know about it?”

Leo sighed. He had a point, as much as Leo didn’t want to believe him. Ogygia was a magical realm, of sorts. Breaking through with machinery alone was more than even he could handle. 

“What do you suggest then?” Leo asked angrily. “I can’t just leave her there. I promised I’d get her off that island.”

“I suggest you take a break and eat something,” Nico said. “Then find someone with magic powers to help you. Piper, maybe. Or Hazel.”

“How about you?” Leo asked. “With all your traveling between realms, you’d be the ideal help.” Except for the part where Nico was probably the least friendly person Leo had ever met, but seeing his reaction might be interesting.

However, Nico just raised his eyebrows slightly. “Not sure what I can do, but why not?” he said. 

Leo stared at him. “Really? You’d help me?”

“If nothing else, I could talk to the guys who’ve been to Ogygia before,” Nico said. 

“Just when I start to like you you’re talking to dead people again,” Leo said, shaking his head. “Besides, I talked to Percy already. He didn’t have anything useful to add.”

“Odysseus might be slightly more observant than Percy,” Nico said dryly.

Leo snickered. “Yeah, he’d have to be the Underworld’s densest guy otherwise.” 

Nico snorted at that. “Go have lunch. I’ll be back after talking to some dead people, like you said.”

“Oh joy, camp food,” Leo muttered. 

“I can bring you some hamburgers if you want,” Nico said. “I’m heading to McDonald’s anyway.”

“That’d be awesome,” Leo grinned. “Wait, why are you going to McDonald’s?”

“I offer the dead happy meals in exchange for speaking to me. It’s politer that way,” Nico shrugged. Leo stared at him.

“Seriously? You buy happy meals for dead people?” Leo laughed. “Oh, that’s awesome! Do you get to keep the toys?”

“They’re mostly interested in the food,” Nico said dismissively. “So, do you want some or not?”

“Big Mac. Are you paying?”

Nico rolled his eyes. “Fine. See you later.”

Leo blinked and Nico was gone. That still gave him the creeps. It was really unfair, as well. The guy could just go anywhere he wanted to in a blink of an eye. Leo briefly wondered if he could have just popped into Ogygia. Probably not, but he should ask, just to be sure. Nobody liked “because you never asked”-situations anyway.

Leo turned back to his work, and about fifteen minutes later a McDonald’s bag suddenly hung in front of his eyes.

“Here,” Nico’s voice said. Leo grinned as he took the bag.

“Do you get off on sneaking up on people?” he asked. Nico’s cheeks turned  
pink.

“I don’t sneak up on people,” he said. “They just don’t hear me coming.”

“That’s what she said,” Leo smirked, laughing as Nico gave him a blank look. “Never mind. You staying for dinner?”

“I have souls to summon,” Nico said, holding up the happy meal box. 

“Don’t tell me McDonald’s is good enough for dead people and me, but that you’re above eating it,” Leo said, and Nico rolled his eyes.

“It’s rude to speak to starving spirits with a full stomach,” he said. “I’m off.”

“Worried about being rude to the dead, but not to the living,” Leo muttered as Nico disappeared. He guessed it explained why the guy was basically a walking skeleton, though he doubted it was the only reason. Not that it was any of his business.

Nico returned a few hours later, looking tired. Leo happened to be facing in his direction when he arrived, for once.

“Dude, you look like shit,” Leo said, getting up to steady him when he staggered. Nico shook his hands off, leaning towards the wall instead. “Hey, just trying to help here.”

“I’m alright, just tired,” Nico said, sitting down on the floor, like there weren’t perfectly good chairs nearby. “I talked to Odysseus.”

“Anything useful?” Leo said, interested.

“He said to use the crystals from her cave to create a bond between this world and Ogygia, but you’re already doing that,” Nico said. “He also said that if he would do it he would find an entrance that connects to some other place and hijack the magic.”

“That’s a pretty good idea,” Leo said excitedly. “If I can tap into the magic on some door with my machine I might be able to reach Calypso. Did he say anything else?”

“A lot. The guy loves the sound of his own voice,” Nico said, leaning his head back against the wall. “Nothing helpful, though.”

“So I have to look for some kind of magical entrance, and redirect it towards Ogygia somehow,” Leo muttered. “You think an entrance to the Underworld might work?”

“My father would kill you,” Nico said and closed his eyes. “Don’t try the elevator to Olympus either.”

“I’m not suicidal,” Leo said, inspecting his work for a moment. “Yeah, this could work. Do you know of any entrances that nobody would care if I used?”

Nico didn’t answer. At first Leo thought he had gone again, but he was still there when Leo turned around. He seemed to be asleep, leaning against the wall with his head slumping down towards his chest. The guy must have been exhausted.

“Huh,” Leo said, briefly contemplating the fact that Nico was actually helping him, despite there being nothing in it for him. Nothing that Leo could figure anyway. Maybe Jason was putting him up to it, though why Nico would obey Jason was another question entirely.

Leo went back to his work, trying to come up with a way to modify the machine to hijack a magic door. The magic element really confused him. For a long while he just stared at the contraption, then he decided to treat magic as if it was electricity. Hijacking electricity was a piece of cake. 

Nico sleeping behind him should have been, well, _creepy_ , but Leo found he didn’t mind. Having company was rather nice, actually, when said company wasn’t bothering with questions (Percy) or attempting to get him out of the bunker (Piper) or trying to help while actually making things worse (Jason). The only thing about Nico being there that was bothering Leo was the fact that he was basically soundless when he moved.

Leo grinned to himself. That could be fixed.

Quietly Leo got what he needed out of his tool belt. Silver bell, black strap. Leo tried not to laugh. This was going to be awesome!

In hindsight he probably should have tied it around Nico’s wrist rather than his neck, but the neck was funnier. He actually just managed to tie the strap before Nico opened his eyes wide and pushed him away, looking like a hunted animal. Leo landed flat on his ass, but he supposed he should be thankful he hadn't been cut in half.

“Ouch,” Leo muttered. “That really hurt.”

“Sorry,” Nico said, actually looking remorseful. “You startled me. What were you doing?”

“Giving you a present,” Leo grinned. “It suits you.”

It actually kind of did. Maybe it was the goth-vibe Nico had going, but the boy could pull off jewelry. Even something as silly as a choker with a bell.

Nico looked at him blankly for a moment, until he tried standing up and the bell started ringing. Leo watched as his face changed from confusion to irritation. Leo laughed as he waited for the fury, but it never came.

“I suppose there’s a clever reason for this,” Nico said, untying the strap and holding up the bell to inspect it.

“It’s because you sneak around and surprise everyone,” Leo laughed. “It’s a common agreement that you need a bell around your neck.”

Nico turned a bit red, but it seemed to be embarrassment rather than fury. _Huh._ Leo had kind of figured the guy might kill him for this joke, but is seemed he was going to survive after all. Which of course made him curious how far he could push this.

“Besides, you looked totally sexy wearing it,” Leo said, and knew immediately he’d hit the mark. Nico blushed a deep red as he gave Leo a death glare, thankfully not one of his actual powers, and slammed the bell down on Leo’s work table so hard Leo flinched. Nico didn’t look back at him as he stomped away towards the door.

“Dude, that was a compliment!” Leo shouted after him, but Nico didn’t come back. Moments later he heard the door slam shut.

 _Good work, Leo! You are so great at making friends,_ Leo thought to himself as he got up from the floor. His ass kinda hurt. _You managed to piss off the only useful help you’ve had. Such a genius._

Well, it wasn’t his fault Nico didn’t have a sense of humor, though to be fair he had taken the whole thing pretty well until that last comment. Maybe the dude didn’t like other guys calling him sexy. He was probably a homophobe. That made sense, with him being from the forties and all.

Leo sighed. He would let Nico cool off, and then go talk to him. Leo still needed his help, after all.

***

As he was walking back towards the cabins Nico started to realize he had overreacted. Leo wasn’t making fun of him because he _knew_ , he was making fun of him because that’s just who Leo was. Half the stuff that came out of the guy’s mouth were jokes, anyway. He didn’t usually mean anything by it.

Nico hesitated for a moment, then kept walking. Turning back now would be stupid, and only make him suffer more jokes and humiliations. 

A couple of young campers hurried out of his way as he walked to the Hades cabin. They stared at him, wide eyed and a little frightened, but Nico ignored him as he entered the Hades cabin.

Despite the cabin being very much Nico’s own creation, he had never spent very much time there. A night or two now and then. To be honest he kind of liked it. It was dark, but pretty comfortable. The beds were softer than the one’s in the Hermes cabin, and much wider. The cabin had four of them, though the other three hadn’t really been used, except for one night after the war when Hazel stayed there.

A few hours later there was a knock on the door, and Nico got up to answer. Leo was standing outside, grinning at him.

“So, magic doorways. Where can I find one?” he said, like the whole bell incident had never happened. If Nico didn’t spend so much time pretending and speaking half-truths himself, he might have missed the slightly nervous undertone in Leo’s carefree voice.

“Come in, we’ll talk,” Nico said, walking back into the cabin, mostly just to see if Leo would follow him. He was completely fine with pretending nothing happened, but he wanted to see if Leo dared follow him into his home turf. He knew Leo was a bit afraid of him, after all, and turnabout was fair play.

“It’s not really allowed, is it?” Leo said hesitatingly. “And your father is the one god I really don’t want to piss off.”

“If the god of death got offended when people entered his territory everyone would live forever,” Nico said, and Leo grinned as he took a few steps into the cabin.

“So you’re saying that if I piss Hades off enough he won’t want me in his kingdom and I’ll be immortal?” Leo said.

“No, he would enjoy making you suffer for all eternity. I wouldn’t recommend it,” Nico smirked, watching Leo visibly shiver at the thought. 

“Duly noted,” Leo said, looking around the cabin. “No offense, man, but how can you live here? It’s depressing. And are those _human_ bones?”

“Actually no, it’s wood. Chiron thought actual bones were a bit too morbid,” Nico said. “I suppose he was right.”

“Gee, you think?” Leo said. “It’s still pretty terrifying. And depressing. Did I mention depressing?”

“I was a pretty depressed kid,” Nico shrugged. “Heavily influenced by the Underworld, too.”

“As opposed to the cheery disposition you have now,” Leo grinned, then frowned. “Wait, are you saying you _built_ this thing?”

“Didn’t Percy tell you? Hades didn’t have a cabin here until after Percy defeated Kronos and made a deal with the gods,” Nico said. “So yeah, I built it. Or summoned the skeletons that did, anyway.”

“Oh,” Leo said. “Nice job with the colors. It really brightens up the place.”

Nico rolled his eyes. “I was twelve. Don’t mock it,” he said. “Besides, I’m the only one staying here. Any hypothetical future children of Hades can redecorate as they see fit.”

“You were twelve during the battle with Kronos,” Leo said, staring at him wide eyed. “I never realized. Shit! No wonder you’re so...”

“If you say ‘messed up‘ I’m going to punch you,” Nico warned him, and Leo laughed.

“Let’s go with ‘used to shit like this’,” he said. “So, anyway. Magical doors.”

“Right,” Nico said, gesturing for Leo to sit down. “There are quite a few magic doors I know about, but most of them are pretty heavily guarded, or almost impossible to reach.”

“Great,” Leo muttered. “Any suggestions? Oh, before I forget again, do you know for a fact that you can’t just shadow travel to Ogygia?”

“I don’t. I think I might actually be able to,” Nico said, watching as Leo’s expression turned angry. “But before you punch me, remember that I would likely get stuck there. The only way out of there is the raft, after all. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to leave any other way either.”

“That’s true,” Leo said, relaxing again. “Yeah, I really wouldn’t want that to happen.”

Nico nodded. “I figured as much,” he said. “As for suggestions...I’m not sure. The Labyrinth might be our best bet, since it has the potential to go anywhere.”

“I thought it was just physical, real world locations, though,” Leo frowned.

“You might want to redefine ‘physical’ and ‘real’,” Nico smiled. “But no, the Labyrinth can literally lead anywhere, but it’s dangerous.” 

“You’ve been down there a couple of times, right?” Leo said. “So you could help.”

“That doesn’t really mean much,” Nico said. “Yes, we brought the statue through the Labyrinth, but it keeps changing, and there’s an army of monsters down there.”

“We’ve fought armies of monsters before. We can do it,” Leo said dismissively. “I’ll just ask Annabeth for a copy of Daedalus' notes on the Labyrinth, and study them to make my machine compatible, and then we’re off.”

Leo hesitated, frowning. “I mean, if you still want to help me.”

Nico shrugged. “I haven’t got much else to do now anyway, so sure, I’ll help.” he said. “If nothing else I can get you out of the Labyrinth quickly when we’re done.”

“Thanks, man,” Leo said, smiling excitedly as he got up. “I’ll go talk to Annabeth. See you later!”

With that he rushed out of the cabin. Nico smiled slightly and shook his head. Leo was always so excited about everything. To be honest he rather admired that. It was a long time since Nico had allowed himself to be that enthusiastic about anything. 

Sighing, Nico prepared himself for the journey back to the Underworld. Studying Daedalus laptop was all well and good, but it would be easier to just ask the guy himself.

***

Annabeth didn’t give him much to go on. She promised to look through the laptop for anything that might help, but Daedalus had taken most of the secrets of the grave. 

“Oh well, since Nico is helping me that shouldn’t be a problem,” Leo shrugged. “Thanks anyway.”

Annabeth blinked. “Nico?” she repeated. “How did that happen?”

“I’m not really sure. I figured Jason put him up to it, but it might just be that he’s bored,” Leo said. “Or he might be in love with me, for all I know.”

Annabeth laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s it,” she said. “I’ll keep you updated.”

She broke the connection, and Leo went to have dinner. He knocked at the Hades cabin, but there was no answer. Maybe Nico was asleep already, or maybe he had gone somewhere. Either way Leo ate dinner alone. He returned to the bunker for a few hours of tinkering before going to bed. And by that he meant falling asleep at the bunker floor. 

The sound of bells woke him up the following morning. Leo thought it was strange, since it wasn’t Christmas or anything, unless he’d been sleeping a _really_ long time. He forced his eyes open, and a silvery orb entered his blurry field of vision. Blinking, he could see a silver bell on a black strap dangling in front of his eyes. Nico di Angelo was sitting beside him, smiling slightly.  
“Dude, what the hell?” Leo said, laughing as he sat up. His joints hurt from sleeping on the floor.

“I brought breakfast,” Nico said, handing him a paper bag and a coffee mug. Starbucks, apparently. Leo grinned wildly as he opened his bag to find a large tuna sandwich..

“If I ever said anything mean about you, I take it back,” Leo said, biting into the meal. “You’re awesome!”

Nico turned slightly pink at that. He seemed to be hiding his embarrassment by taking a sip of his own coffee. He wasn’t eating anything. “I needed coffee, so I figured I’d pick something up. I didn’t know what you liked, though. Sorry.”

“Are you kidding? I love tuna,” Leo said, munching on the sandwich. “Though I actually like food in general. I’m not picky.”

“Good,” Nico said, sipping on his coffee. There was silence for a while, which Leo broke by suddenly starting to laugh.

“Man, I cannot believe you used that bell to wake me up,” he said. “And they say you have no sense of humor.”

“Who says that, exactly?” Nico asked. “Apart from you?”

“Well, no one, really,” Leo grinned. “And I still think you should wear it.”

“No thanks,” Nico scoffed. “Let’s not go over that again.”

“Right,” Leo agreed. “So why do you look like that coffee is the only thing keeping you awake?”

“I talked to Daedalus tonight,” Nico said.

“You summoned him?”

“No, he’s working in the Underworld, just summoning his spirit would have been rude, and he probably wouldn’t have answered,” Nico said. “I went to see him.”

“Did he say anything useful?” Leo asked, trying to fathom that Nico had exhausted himself by going to the Underworld and back just to help him.

“He confirmed that what we’re planning is doable,” Nico said. “But he also said that tapping into the magic will be dangerous. Creating a bond between your machine and the Labyrinth to make a doorway will require a human interposer.”

“So you’re saying that I’m going to have to redirect the magic into the machine through my own body,” Leo concluded with a nervous laugh. “That doesn’t sound too hard.”

“You would kill yourself,” Nico said gravely. “You don’t understand magic, or how to use it to travel. It could easily destroy you. I’ll do it.”

“Wait, what?” Leo exclaimed. “First you tell me it’s so dangerous it could kill me, and then you volunteer to do it yourself? Dude, what?”

“I doubt it would be lethal to _me_ ,” Nico said, rolling his eyes. “Besides, I wouldn’t know how to work your machine even if you died powering it up, and Calypso would be stuck at Ogygia. This is the only way.”

“Still,” Leo said hesitatingly. “You’re not just doing it because you have a death wish or something?”

Nico actually smiled at that, seemingly genuinely amused. “I spend enough time in the Underworld as it is,” he said. 

Leo grinned. “That’s true, but seriously, why are you helping me?” Leo asked. “I mean, hey, don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful and all, but...”

“It’s the right thing to do,” Nico shrugged. It didn’t seem like he was planning on saying more.

“No way, man,” Leo said. “There’s got to be more to it than that.”

“Not really,” Nico said. “It’s just… Why wouldn’t I help you, when you’ve actually got a shot at being happy?”

Leo was stunned. There were way too many meanings of that statement, but basically Nico had just told him he was helping because Leo could be happy and he couldn’t. Leo stared at the boy beside him, feeling like he’d never seen him before. Gods, he had pegged him _so wrong_.

Of course, he couldn’t tell Nico that. “Go to sleep,” he urged instead, clapping Nico on the shoulder as he got up from the floor. “I’ll fix some things on the machine in the meantime. Think we could be off by tomorrow morning?”

“If you’re ready,” Nico nodded, rising himself up with some effort. “But you know it won’t be as simple as just entering the Labyrinth and setting everything up, right? We’ll have to find a place where the magic crosses itself if we want to redirect it.”

“Whatever that means. Yeah , I kinda figured it wouldn’t be easy,” Leo nodded. “But hey, I’m a genius and you’re...all mysterious and shit. We can do it.”

“I’m not mysterious. Or shit,” Nico muttered, and Leo laughed at him.

“Go to sleep. I’ll talk to you later,” Leo said, and Nico left the bunker. Leo hoped he’d be able to reach the Hades cabin before falling asleep.

The bunker felt strangely empty without him, but Leo didn’t give himself time to think about that. He had to make sure the machine worked properly, and wouldn’t kill Nico when they tried to use it. Knowing that Nico trusted him enough for this was kind of strange, but Leo found he liked the feeling. Maybe he was good at making friends, after all.

 

Leo knocked on the door to the Hades cabin before dinner again, and this time the door actually opened. Nico was standing in the doorway, wearing a black pajama. His hair was a ruffled mess, like he had just woken up. Leo couldn’t help laughing.

“Dude, it’s dinnertime!” he huffed. “Are you still sleeping?”

Nico yawned. “Until a minute ago, I was,” he said. “Anyway, I’m not hungry.”

“When was the last time you ate anything?” Leo asked, frowning when Nico didn’t answer. “You’re coming to dinner with me. Either go change or I’m dragging you there in your pajama. I bet the campers would love to see that.”

“I ate lunch, I’m fine,” Nico said.

“And by lunch you mean what? An apple?” Leo said. “I don’t want you passing out because of low blood sugar tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not gonna...”

“You. Me. Dinner. Now. Clothes are optional,” Leo said, then grinned. “That totally didn’t sound the way I planned.”

“I’ll get dressed,” Nico said, almost slamming the door in his face. Leo frowned. There was the homophobia again, but at least he was coming to dinner. That was a small victory. Go team Leo! 

A few minutes later Nico reappeared, wearing one of his usual black t-shirts and pants.

“Do you own anything that isn’t black?” Leo asked, dismayed. Nico actually appeared to be thinking about it.

“Not really,” he finally said. “I may have some camp t-shirts stuffed somewhere, but I never use them.”

“When this is all over I’m going to force you to wear every color imaginable,” Leo said. “Just to see how it looks.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Nico said determinedly. “But good luck.”

After getting food, Leo hesitated for a moment before following Nico to the Hades table. Nico seemed surprised by the arrangement.

“It’s against the rules,” he pointed out. Leo laughed at him.

“Right, because you always respect the rules,” he said. “Come on, what was the point of me dragging you to dinner if we don’t eat together?”

“The others are staring,” Nico said, looking vaguely uncomfortable.

“Relax, they’re just checking out the hot stuff that is me,” Leo said, purposely turning around and winking at a couple of younger girls at the Hermes table that stared openly. “Oh yes, they want this.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Nico said, and Leo looked at him with feigned innocence.

“What, you’re telling me _you’re_ the one they want?” Leo said. “No way, they are definitely Team Leo.”

Nico rolled his eyes. “Sure, I bet they like how humble and modest you are.”

“Aw, come on. Admit it,” Leo laughed. “You know you love me.”

Nico froze with his fork halfway to his mouth. He looked panicked for half a second before putting the fork down and taking a deep breath. “I most certainly do not,” he said, suddenly serious. “Stop making jokes like that.”

“Dude, I was just kidding,” Leo said. “I know you’re from the thirties or forties or whatever, but that homophobia you’ve got is pretty unseemly.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Nico said coldly. “So drop it.”

“I’m just saying...”

“I’m done,” Nico interrupted, grabbing his tray and moving to put it away. Leo stared after him. This was apparently a touchy subject. Really touchy. Of course Leo couldn’t keep his fingers away from it. Which meant he quickly followed Nico back to the cabins.

“Dude, talk to me,” he said. “You’re taking this way to personally.”

“It’s none of your business, Valdez,” Nico said so coldly Leo swore the grass was dying by his feet. Okay, this was serious. Leo was honestly terrified, but he didn’t understand what made the otherwise freakishly calm demigod react so violently to a harmless joke. Unless…

Leo’s eyes widened. “Oh my gods,” he breathed. “No way. You’re actually… That makes so much _sense_!”

Nico was clearly panicking now, looking torn between killing Leo and running away. Maybe he was going to do both. Leo was too overwhelmed by the realization to remember to be scared. Nico’s eyes flickered towards the other campers, who were curiously eying them at a safe distance.

“Inside!” Nico ordered, throwing the door to the Hades cabin open. Leo entered without protest, still wondering in the back of his mind if Nico was going to murder him. Nico slammed the door shut behind them.

“I swear, if you tell _anyone_ about this...” Nico started to say, but Leo interrupted him.

“Whoa, chill out, dude,” Leo said. “If you want to be a closet case, I won’t expose you, but you do realize you’re kinda overreacting, right?”

“What do you know about it?” Nico said venomously.

“It’s the twenty first century, nobody with any brain cells cares about stuff like that anymore. Besides, we’re Greek,” Leo said. “There are some really juicy stories about our parents, you know.”

“It’s not the same.”

“Maybe not, but it’s not that different either,” Leo shrugged. “And it’s not like you’re the only queer demigod out there.”

“Really. Who else?” Nico asked, sounding like he was calling bullshit.

“Statistically every tenth person or so. Maybe more,” Leo sighed. “But if you want names, well, there’s me.”

Nico blinked, clearly not expecting that. “You?”

“Bisexual, yeah. I don’t talk about it much, since I usually prefer girls anyway,” Leo said. “But there has been the occasional guy I’ve fantasized about. And if you ever tell Jason, I’m bleaching your hair pink.”

“Jason,” Nico repeated, staring at Leo’s sheepish expression. 

“Come on, don’t tell me you’ve never thought about it,” Leo teased.

“Actually, no. He’s not my type,” Nico said. His face was growing red again. 

“Really? Wow, how high are your standards if even Jason doesn’t measure up?” Leo laughed. 

“It’s not that,” Nico said silently, looking uncomfortable and apparently talking to his shoes. “I had a crush on Percy for a long time. I didn’t really look at anyone else.”

“Huh,” Leo said, considering it. “That explains a lot. The guy has no idea how lucky he was.”

“He’s happy with Annabeth, and it doesn’t matter anymore,” Nico sighed, running a hand through his hair and sinking down on the bed. “I’m over him.”

“So you’re looking at other people now?” Leo asked, grinning. “Anyone caught your fancy? Apart from me, of course. I know I’m dead sexy and all, but I’m taken. Kind of.”

Leo was surprised to hear Nico laugh at that. He had never heard a genuine laugh from Nico before. It shocked him how much he wanted to hear more of it. New life goal: make Nico di Angelo laugh all the time. Shouldn’t be too hard.

“My standards aren’t _that_ low,” Nico said, smiling brightly, looking like a weight had been taken off his shoulders. “You’re only hot in the literal sense, as in your eyebrows are on fire.”

“What?” Leo repeated, lifting his hands to check. “Shit, really? Why did that happen?”

“No idea,” Nico chuckled. “Hey, um… thanks. For telling me.”

“Thanks for not killing me for finding out,” Leo grinned. “Does anyone else know?”

“Hazel and Jason,” Nico said, smiling at Leo’s widened eyes. “Jason found out in Croatia. Long story. I kind of broke down and told Hazel a few weeks ago.”

“How did she take it, being out of this time and all?”

“She was shocked at first. It took her a while to accept it, but she did,” Nico smiled to himself. “Better than I did myself, I think.”

“Well, no offence, dude, but she’s way smarter than you,” Leo laughed. “Prettier too.”

“I know,” Nico said fondly.

“But you know, it’s not like you’re unattractive,” Leo said. “With the right accessories, say a silver bell around your neck, you can be quite good looking. Well, not as hot as me, of course, but...”

“Clearly not,” Nico said dryly. “Your eyebrows are still burning.” 

He laughed slightly as Leo swore and put the flames out again. Why the hell did that keep happening? Just because Nico di Angelo laughed? That was ridiculous.

“Well, nice chat,” Leo said. “I should get to bed. Early start tomorrow.”

“Try sleeping in an actual bed this time,” Nico smiled. “Goodnight”

“Goodnight, jerk,” Leo said, refusing to turn around as he walked out. He suspected his eyebrows was burning again, and that stopped being funny long ago. Seriously, why did his eyebrows suddenly like Nico so much? Just because he had a nice laugh? Or because he, and Leo would deny it with his dying breath if someone asked him, was significantly more attractive than Leo when he smiled?

Leo shook his head to clear it as he walked back to the Hephaestus cabin. He had a girlfriend, sort of, and this whole thing was about getting her back. He needed to focus on that.

 

They met up at breakfast the following morning. Leo hadn’t slept very well, too busy thinking about all the things that could go wrong today. Nico on the other hand looked like he’d had a decent night's sleep for the first time since Leo met him. He smiled as Leo joined him at the breakfast table. 

“It’s too early, and you are too energetic,” Leo muttered. “Stop it. I like it better when you’re all depressed.”

Nico snickered. “I enjoy making you miserable,” the bastard said. “The nearest entrance into the Labyrinth that I know of is in downtown New York. I propose we shadow travel there after breakfast.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Leo agreed. “You’re quite convenient to have around, you know. Saves a lot of time.”

“I feel so appreciated,” Nico said drily. 

“Hey, I totally appreciate you,” Leo said. “You’re my personal instant taxi-service.”

“On the other hand, I want you to be able to tell your girlfriend that the rescue was all _you_ , so maybe I should just meet you there,” Nico said, grinning evilly. 

“Oh, come on, man. Don’t do that,” Leo begged. “Aren’t we friends? Don’t you love me anymore? I thought we had something special.”

"You're so full of it," Nico said, rolling his eyes despite the slight blush on his cheeks. 

Leo laughed, taking the last sip of his coffee. “Come on, man. Let’s go be heroes.”

 

Leo had made his machine portable by essentially putting it in a shopping wagon they could push in front of them. Still, getting down into the Labyrinth with it wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. The entrance was really narrow.

“How the hell did you manage to get that big-ass statue out of that tiny hole?” Leo asked, when they were finally inside.

“I shadow traveled, obviously,” Nico said. “In and out of the Labyrinth is complicated, though. I had to make a really short jump, and held up traffic outside for half an hour or so.”

“You couldn’t have shadow traveled this time as well?” Leo asked, exasperated.

“Nah, watching you struggle with the shopping cart was funnier,” he said. “Besides, I’d rather not waste my strength. The war may be over, but there are still plenty of monsters in here.”

“Point taken,” Leo said, looking at the dark tunnel in front of them. “I don’t like this place.”

“Nobody likes this place,” Nico agreed. ”Come on. We need to find a spot where we can connect that thing.”

The floor was uneven, and the shopping cart was making a lot of noise as he pushed it along. Leo could see Nico flinch every time it hit a rock and made a particularly high noise. Leo thought it was more due to the fact that he was used to move silently than that he was nervous about getting attacked.

“We should have waited until the others were free, and brought at least one more person,” Nico said after they’ve been walking for a while. “This was a bad idea.”

“Don’t tell me you want to back out now,” Leo said. “I thought you liked doing things on your own.”

“Well, I’m not on my own, am I?” Nico scowled. “Couldn’t you have, I don’t know, made the cart float or something?”

“Yeah, sure, with a lot more time and a possible risk of explosion,” Leo said, “These paths are too narrow for flight. Again, how the hell did you get the statue through?”

“It wasn’t as narrow at the time,” Nico said. “This place is always changing.”

They turned a corner and found themselves face to face with three cyclopes, who had apparently been waiting to ambush them. Leo reacted a bit too slowly and got caught by one of them as Nico slashed one into two halves and turned on the third one. The cyclops holding Leo screamed in pain and let go of him as he let himself burn hot. Once he was loose, he threw a fireball into the cyclopes’ eye to blind him, moments before Nico stuck his sword into its stomach.

“Hey, I could have handled that one,” Leo exclaimed. Nico turned to frown at him.

“Did you even bring a weapon?” he asked, and Leo shrugged. 

“Yes, I did. I brought you,” Leo said. “And I don’t really need a weapon other than fire. I can’t swing swords worth shit, anyway.”

“We definitely should have brought someone else,” Nico muttered, starting to walk forward again.

They walked for what felt like miles, occasionally fighting monsters on the way. Nothing really big attacked them, but the smaller monsters were slowly wearing them out.

“Dude!” Leo exclaimed, letting go of the cart and sinking down on the floor. “I need a break. Are you _sure_ we haven’t passed any spots we could connect the machine into yet?”

“I haven’t seen any,” Nico sighed, sinking down beside him. “And I’m getting tired as well. Even if we find a spot today I’m not sure I have enough energy to redirect the magic.”

“So we’ll wait until tomorrow. It’s not like one more day matters,” Leo said, looking through his pack. “We just need to find the damn thing. Sandwich?”

Leo was a bit surprised when Nico actually accepted the offered sandwich. He really was starting to look tired. Nico had taken the brunt of every attack against them so far, and had summoned more than one skeleton to their aid over during course of the day. Leo had mostly stayed by the cart to protect his machine.

They walked a bit further after finishing eating, briefly stopping to dispose of some Stymphalian birds that really had no business being underground anyway. Leo was just about to suggest they stop and rest again when Nico straightened his back and started walking faster, almost leaving Leo behind.

“Hey, slow down!” Leo exclaimed, trying to catch up with him. Nico suddenly stopped by and archway that was directly in front of a wall, as if it had either been blocked, or some idiot just liked building impassable archways. Nico was slowly running his hands along it. It almost looked like a caress.

“Dude, I like archways as much as the next guy, but that’s a bit creepy,” Leo said. “Do you want a moment alone with it?”

“Can’t you feel it?” Nico said, ignoring his comment. “The magic is crossing itself. I think this is it.”

“Really?” Leo asked excitedly, moving over to touch the stone. There was a slight heat beneath his fingers, but nothing Leo would have taken notice of. He frowned. Are you sure?”

“Trust me,” Nico smiled. “This is the place. It’s the beginning of a new path that hasn’t formed yet. We should have no problem directing it where we want it.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Leo said, smiling back at him. “So, you still tired?”

“Exhausted,” Nico said. “Why don’t you get everything set up while I take a nap?”

“You sure a nap is enough?” Leo said. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. I want to try this as soon as possible, but you killing yourself in the process would kind of make the whole thing sour.”

“Gee, Valdez, I didn’t know you cared,” Nico said, sitting down on the ground with his sword resting against his shoulder, ready to defend himself even if someone attacked when he was sleeping. Leo would never have been able to fall asleep in that position.

“Well, you know, the others would murder me if I let you die,” Leo said. “And you father would place me in the Fields of Punishment, and you would spend you afterlife laughing at my pain.”

“Wow, you’ve really thought this through, haven’t you?” Nico laughed. “And don’t worry, if I let something as stupid as your machine kill me I’ll be the one in the Fields of Punishment. My father would be so disappointed.”

“That’s reassuring,” Leo grinned. “I’d still rather you didn’t die though. Instant taxi-services are so hard to come by.”

“I’ll be fine,” Nico said. “Just shut up and let me sleep for a while.”

Nico closed his eyes, and Leo tried to be as quiet as possible as he set the machine up. He was feeling jittery and restless. Months of hard work, all leading up to this, and he had to wait for Nico di Angelo to finish his nap. Leo both was both anticipating and dreading the moment. If it didn’t work, what then? He had no backup plan, no more ideas. It had to work. He couldn’t let himself consider any other possibility.

To keep himself busy he brought up small parts from his tool belt and built a mechanical toy car. He was restlessly playing with it when Nico finally woke up.

“Did you build that just now?” Nico asked, sounding impressed. Leo sent the car towards him with a laugh.

“I build flying airships and interdimensional portal-machines, and you’re impressed by the tiny toy car,” he said. “Nice to know what turns a man on, I guess.”

“Funny,” Nico said, smiling as he lifted up the tiny car to inspect it. “This is kinda cool.”

“If you want it, it’s yours,” Leo said, getting up from the ground and dusting off his pants. “Now then, you up for it?”

Nico nodded, putting the car into his pocket as he stood up. “Let’s do this.”

He took a firm hold of the archway with his left hand, and Leo placed the newly added reins from the machine in his right. Then he fired up the machine. Everything was working correctly, but for a long moment nothing happened. Leo was starting to despair when Nico let out a shaky gasp, and the portal opened. Leo could see the entrance to Calypso’s cave through it.

“Hurry up!” Nico groaned. He had his eyes closed in concentration, and was sweating a lot. Leo frowned. He could not see Calypso through the portal. Only one thing to do then.

“Hold on, I’ll be right back!” Leo said, jumping through the portal. He landed on the hard ground in Calypso’s cave, the first man to ever make it to Ogygia twice. Leo didn’t stay to triumph in that fact. Nico needed him to hurry up.

“Calypso!” Leo roared at the top of his lungs, running out of the cave. It took maybe two minutes to run into her.

“Leo!” she stared at him in disbelief. “How is...”

“There’s no time!” Leo said, grabbing her arm and starting to drag her back to the cave. “If you want to leave, you have to come _now_. We only have seconds.” 

She hesitated, then nodded resolutely and followed him back. Leo could see that the connection with the portal was getting unstable, so he quickly pushed Calypso through and jumped out himself.

“We’re out! You can let go!” He shouted the moment he landed in the Labyrinth, partly on top of Calypso. The portal immediately closed, and Nico sank down on the ground, apparently unconscious.

“Nico!” Leo shouted, making his way over to his side, checking for vital signs. Thankfully he was still breathing.

“Is the machine supposed to be making that noise?” Calypso asked behind him, and Leo turned around, alarmed. 

“Definitely not,” Leo said, lifting Nico up on his shoulder. “Give me a hand with him, we need to get out of here _fast_.”

Calypso took a hold of Nico’s other side, and they clumsily ran through the Labyrinth as fast as they could. They hadn’t gotten far when the explosion came, but apparently they were far enough to avoid the flames. The pieces of stone falling from the roof were harder to avoid, but they managed to keep running until they reached a stable part of the Labyrinth.

Leo laughed loudly as he sunk down on the ground with Nico beside him. Calypso frowned at him.

“What’s so funny?” she asked. “And what’s going on? Where are we? Who’s he?”

“Nico di Angelo, son of Hades,” Leo introduced his unconscious friend. “He’s the reason I was able to keep my promise to you. We’re in the Labyrinth, and it’s funny because were _alive_!”

Calypso stared at him for a moment, then smiled as she sat down beside him. “I guess that is pretty funny,” she said. “And I’m off my island. I can’t believe it!” She started laughing as well, leaning over to hug him tightly, and Leo happily hugged her back. He had kept his promise. He had succeeded. He had actually done it!

But he hadn’t done it alone.

Leo gently pulled back from the hug and leaned over Nico to see how he was doing. He was still unconscious, but breathing steadily, which was a good sign. While Leo was still looking at him, Nico groaned and opened his eyes.

“Hey,” Leo said. “How’re you feeling?”

“Tired,” Nico mumbled. “What took you so long?”

“Sorry, it took me a moment to find her, but we got her out,” Leo said. “Say hello to Calypso.”

“Hi,” Calypso said, smiling at them. Nico managed a tired nod in her direction.

“Hello,” he said. “I think I’ll go to sleep now.”

With that he unceremoniously lay down on the ground and closed his eyes again. Leo laughed, looking up at Calypso.

“I’d like to say he’s usually more responsive, but he really isn’t,” Leo laughed.

“So, a son of Hades,” Calypso said, leaning against Leo, who put an arm around her. “What did he get out of helping you?”

“Nothing,” Leo said, grinning down at Nico’s sleeping face, half hidden behind his messy dark curls. Leo couldn’t resist running his fingers through them. Nico frowned slightly but didn’t wake up. “I didn’t realize until recently, but he never asks for anything in return. He’s stupid that way.”

Looking back at Calypso, Leo saw she was frowning at him. He raised an eyebrow. “What?” he asked, and she shook her head.

“Nothing,” she said. “Tell me how you managed to get me off Ogygia.”

Leo told her the whole story, admittedly exaggerating a little bit to make himself seem more awesome. He doubted she bought it, but Leo didn’t want her to think Nico was the hero of the story. Even though he kind of was.

When he finished, she asked him to tell her about everything else that happened since the last time they met, and he briefly described the last battle with Gaea and how they had managed to defeat her. 

“You’re an impossible man, Leo Valdez,” Calypso told him fondly when he finished. “Is there nothing you and your friends can do?”

“Not really,” Leo laughed. “Well, we’ve never tried starting a band. Maybe we should. Piper could convince people to listen no matter how bad we sound.”

“That’s the worst idea you’ve ever had, Valdez,” came a grumble from beside him. Apparently Nico had woken up. Leo was a bit embarrassed to realize he still had his hand entangled in Nico’s hair, and he quickly removed the it as Nico sat up and looked around.

“Come on, dude,” Leo covered with a laugh. “We’d make an awesome band. I could play the drums, you could play guitar. It would be glorious!”

“The only instrument I know is the piano,” Nico said. “And I’m terrible at that. Where are we?”

“Oh, we kinda had to move because the machine overheated and blew up,” Leo said, and Nico stared at him.

“Blew up?” He repeated dangerously, and Leo grinned nervously.

“Just a little bit. And we’re all fine, so no harm done,” he said, looking over at Calypso for help. “Right?”

“You’re telling me you had me hooked up to a machine that was in danger of exploding, and you didn’t tell me?” Nico said angrily.

“He has a point,” Calypso said.

“It was a minimal risk,” Leo said. “And we succeeded, so I’d say ‘Go team Leo!’”

“Remind me never to be on your team again,” Nico muttered.

“Oh, come on,” Leo said. “What are friends for, if not to put each other in mortal danger from time to time?”

“Speaking of mortal danger,” Nico said, getting up and dusting of his jeans. “I think I can feel monsters approaching. We should get out of here.”

“You up for it?” Leo said, getting on his feet and helping Calypso do the same. 

“Rather than fighting, yes,” Nico said, holding out his hands. “I’ll take us to the entrance. Grab on tight.”

Leo grabbed hold of Nico’s right hand while Calypso grabbed his left, after a moment of hesitation. She let out a small yelp as the shadows swallowed them, but she didn’t let go of Leo’s hand, and probably not Nico’s either. Moments later they were standing by the doorway they had entered through the day before. 

Nico staggered as he let go of their hands, and Leo moved over to steady him. “I’ll be fine,” he said stubbornly. “We should move.”

“If you say so,” Leo said, then turned to Calypso and grinned. “Ready to meet the modern world?”

She smiled nervously. “As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said. “Let’s go.”

Leo grabbed her hand again as they made it out of the narrow entrance. He kept looking between Calypso and Nico, not wanting to miss her reactions to the world above, and making sure he was still on his feet.

“Oh!” Calypso exclaimed as they reached the surface. She looked around at the busy street around them, eyes wide. “This is...I don’t know what to say.”

“The usual reaction is ‘it smells’,” Nico said behind them, and Calypso giggled.

“It does. It really stinks,” she said. “But it’s amazing!”

“You’ll have plenty of time to see it,” Leo promised, grinning at her. “”But we should be thinking about getting back to camp for now. Nico?”

“Sorry, I can’t. I can barely stand on my feet,” Nico said. “We’ll have to get an actual taxi.”

“Hey, no problem,” Leo said, turning back to Calypso. “You’ve never been in a car before, right? And a taxi ride in New York? You’re either going to love it or hate it.”

It took a while for them to get a taxi, and the driver wasn’t overly enthusiastic about driving them all the way out of the city, but thankfully Nico had enough money on him to convince him. Calypso was incredibly nervous and excited about the whole thing, and her enthusiasm was contagious. Leo found himself telling her exactly how cars worked and he doubted she understood half of what he was saying, but she listened attentively and nodded. Nico on the other hand fell asleep as soon as he sat down, apparently not bothered by their loud talk in the slightest. The driver occasionally gave them looks like he thought they were crazy, but he didn’t comment. He seemed more than happy to let them get out at the usual stop in the middle of nowhere.

“Just a short walk to camp now,” Leo said happily, frowning as Nico muttered “Thank the gods” behind him. He looked just about ready to drop. “You okay, man?”

“I’ll be fine. I just need to _not_ use any powers for a day or two,” Nico said. “That machine of yours really drained me.”

“Well, luckily you didn’t have to hold it that long,” Leo said, and Nico scowled at him.

“Not long?” he repeated. “You were gone forever. I honestly wasn’t sure you were coming back.”

“But it was only a minute or two,” Leo said.

“Time is different on Ogygia, remember?” Calypso said gently. “It usually moves faster, but maybe not this time.”

“Indeed,” Nico muttered. ”A second later and I would have left you there.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” Leo said, clapping his back. “Thanks, man.”

“Whatever,” Nico muttered, and they finally reached Half-Blood Hill. 

“We should probably go tell Chiron you’re here,” Leo said, taking Calypso’s hand. She nodded, looking nervous again.

“I’m going to sleep. See you later,” Nico said, stalking off toward his cabin. He seemed irritated about something, and Leo frowned as he looked after him. Calypso gently tugged at his hand, and he turned to grin at her as he led them towards the Big House. He could worry about Nico later.

***

Nico had never considered himself an idiot, except when it came to Percy Jackson, and he was over that. He really was. He could even be around Percy and Annabeth without hurting nowadays. Sure, he still had feelings for him, but it wasn’t the same. Nico had been so relieved when he realized it was over.

_And now I’m doing it all over again._

He hadn't realized until Leo jumped through that portal, and it hit him that he might never see him again. He couldn't stand the thought, so he had kept the portal open far longer than he should have. The relief when Leo returned was incredible. Nico hadn't even realized how utterly drained of power he was until that moment.

Out of everyone he knew, Leo Valdez was the one he would have thought he was least likely to fall for, if he had even considered the possibility. The boy was as far from Percy as it was possible to get. Leo was always making fun of people, including himself, was too smart for his own good when it came to machines but an idiot among people and always stuck his nose in other people’s business. He wasn’t even that good looking. He was shorter than Nico, almost as scrawny but with a little more meat on his bones and almost impish. 

But most importantly: he had a girlfriend. Who was a goddess. Nico covered his face with his hands and he turned to the side in his bed. He couldn’t go through this again. He really couldn’t.

The worst part was that Leo had confessed that he occasionally liked boys, as well, but even if he’d never met Calypso, Nico still wouldn’t have had a chance. Leo liked people like Jason after all. He wouldn’t even look twice at Nico.

They were friends now, he had admitted it himself, so that meant he was expected to keep interacting with him after this. Nico wasn’t sure how to manage that. If he saw Leo and Calypso carry on like Percy and Annabeth had, he was pretty sure he’d break. Them holding hands had been bad enough, and Nico had been half asleep at the time.

Nico swore to himself. He was deathly tired, but couldn’t sleep. And he had to rest so he could regain his strength enough to get out of Camp Half Blood. He really, really didn’t want to stay. Still sleep eluded him. Nico stared up at the ceiling in his cabin and wondered if he should just go with his original plan and leave the camps behind forever.

A while later the door to his cabin opened and Nico sat up in bed, watching as Leo entered the cabin with a huge grin on his face. For once, it actually looked like an honest grin rather than a mask, and Nico wished it wasn’t so contagious.

“Ever heard of knocking?” Nico asked, unable to help the smile on his face. Leo laughed as he walked up and sat down on Nico’s bed, like he belonged there. 

“Never. What is that strange custom?” he joked. “Honestly I just didn’t want to wake you if you were asleep. I just love looking at your sleeping face.”

Nico hated the fact that he blushed. “Where’s Calypso?” he asked, because he didn’t want to let himself forget about her.

“Working out some sort of arrangement with Chiron. She’s going to stay in the Big House while she’s here,” Leo said. “And we get to teach her all about the modern world before letting her loose in it. It’s going to be awesome!”

“Well, at least you won’t spend all your time in the bunker now,” Nico said, trying to keep his tone light. Leo apparently didn’t notice his struggle.

“Nah, I probably won’t be able to stay away,” he grinned. “What about you?”

“Rest here for a day, then I’m off,” Nico said. “New Rome first, then the Underworld.”

Leo frowned. “You should stick around,” he said. “Come on, you said it yourself. You spend enough time in the Underworld already. Leave that for when you’re dead.”

“I don’t belong here,” Nico said gloomily. “Visits are fine, but I can’t stay for long.”

“You know how I said I like you better when you’re depressed? I take that back,” Leo said. “Of course you belong here. Don’t fish for compliments.”

“I’m not fishing for anything,” Nico said angrily. “I mean it. I really don’t fit in here. I never have.”

“Dude, you fit in better than I do,” Leo said. “Just stick around for a bit, okay? Everyone will probably come visit soon to meet Calypso, anyway. You should be here.”

“You don’t need me to be here for that,” Nico said. “Look, I’ll come visit in a week or so, but I really can’t stay. I just can’t.”

“Fine,” Leo said, standing up, clearly not satisfied with that. “If you’re determined to be an outcast, who am I to argue?”

He gave Nico a look like he expected Nico to argue, but Nico didn’t say a word. Leo sighed and left, muttering “why do I bother?” to himself. Nico sank down on the bed, feeling terrible. But it was for the best. Taking himself out of the equation would be better for everyone.

Ignoring the tears that threatened to pour out, Nico closed his eyes.

***

Leo hesitated outside the Hades cabin, considering going back inside. Something was clearly going on with Nico, and Leo didn’t like it. During the last few days he had come to know the boy pretty well, and he didn’t want to lose the friendship they had managed to build. Nico was suddenly acting differently, and Leo didn’t know why. Maybe it was something he had said. Or maybe it was because of Calypso. Nico had said something about not expecting to be happy, after all. He had said he was over Percy, but maybe he’d been lying about that. Leo frowned. The thought made him angry for reasons that weren’t entirely logical.

Leo walked back to the Big House to exchange some words with Calypso before heading to the Hephaestus cabin to sleep. Calypso gave him a goodnight kiss on the cheek, which he should have been ecstatic about, but Nico and his depressed mood ruined that. It also ruined Leo’s sleep, as he lay awake thinking about what was wrong, getting angrier by the minute.

They had done something impossible together and should be celebrating, and instead Nico was depressed in his cabin and infecting everybody else with his dark mood, insisting he didn’t belong anywhere and refusing to say what’s wrong. Leo usually let people handle their own problems, but this was turning into his problem as well. When dawn arrived Leo stomped towards the Hades cabin, ready tear Nico a new one. 

He knocked on the door this time, but there was no answer. When he looked in the bed was made and the cabin empty.

“Son of a bitch,” Leo exclaimed angrily. Apparently Nico hadn’t even thought him worthy of a goodbye. The next time Leo saw him he was going to punch him. And scream at him. And possibly punch him some more. And then run and hide behind someone who actually had a chance of taking Nico di Angelo in a fight. Jason, maybe. Not Percy. Definitely not Percy.

“What’s wrong?” Calypso asked when he saw her a while later. Leo attempted to smile at her.

“It’s nothing, just that Nico ran off without saying goodbye,” Leo shrugged. “He does that sometimes. It’s no big deal.”

Calypso frowned at him, but didn’t enquire further. Leo spent the day teaching her about different machines people used in the modern world, and she seemed extremely curious about television, so the next day Leo built her one. All of camp seemed interested in meeting Calypso, and his friends popped in one by one over the following days. He and Calypso were rarely alone, and maybe that should have bothered him, but it didn’t. He had enough think about.

He stole moments away from everyone and sneaked off the bunker to invent stuff. He wasn’t working towards any specific goal now, and he kind of missed it. More often than not he would just sit on the floor making small mechanical toys like the car he’d given Nico. It calmed him down, and wasn’t as frustrating as trying to do something big. Jason found him like that about five days after Leo and Nico brought Calypso back.

“What’s up?” Jason asked, looking concerned as he sat down in front of Leo on the floor. “You don’t seem happy. Are things not working out the way you wanted with Calypso?”

“Everything is great with Calypso,” Leo said, and it was true. Calypso and him were getting along better than they ever had on Ogygia, but it wasn’t as great and magical as Leo thought it would be. Leo blamed Nico. If he hadn’t freaked out for no reason and ran off everything would have been perfect.

“Then what is it?” Jason asked, and Leo forced himself to grin.

“It’s nothing,” he said. “A guy needs some time alone sometimes, is all.”

Jason clearly didn’t buy it, but he didn’t press on about it, either.

 

Nico returned the following day. If Leo hadn’t made a habit of checking the Hades cabin every night he might have missed him, but as it was, Leo opened the door and found Nico sitting on his bed like he’d never left. He looked up at Leo in surprise.

“You bastard,” Leo exclaimed, stomping determinedly towards him. “Where the hell have you been?”

“The Underworld, like I said,” Nico answered, looking confused. “Why are you so angry?”

“How hard would it have been for you to say something before you left?” Leo bristled, standing by Nico’s bed and looking at him.

“I did, didn’t I?” Nico said. ”I told you I was going to leave.”

“You said you would rest for a day first,” Leo said. “And you said you were going to New Rome.”

“So I changed my mind. I didn’t think it was such a big deal,” Nico said. “What does it matter?”

“I was _worried_ about you, you asshole!” Leo said. “I was afraid I would have to build a machine to get you out of the Underworld, if you decided to stay.”

“How were you going to power it up without me?” Nico said, a small smile on his lips. Leo thought about it for a second, then smacked Nico’s head and sat down, covering his face with his hands.

“Hey, are you okay?” Nico asked, actually sounding worried. “I didn’t think you’d care. And I told you I’d be back.”

“Oh, shut up,” Leo said. “I’m right and you’re wrong and you need to apologize.”

“I’m sorry,” Nico said, actually sounding like he meant it. Leo looked up at him, and he seemed sincere enough. 

“Well, that was easy,” Leo grinned. “Not that I’ve forgiven you yet. You’re going to have to stick around for that to happen.”

Nico frowned. “I can stay a couple of days,” he said. “But aren’t you busy with Calypso anyway?”

“I can find some time,” Leo said dismissively. ”I need to impress you with my new mechanical toy collection in the bunker.”

“Collection?” Nico laughed. “It’s barely been a week. How bored have you been?”

“You know me. Idle hands is a waste of my immaculate talent,” Leo said, getting up from the bed. “It’s late. I’ll see you tomorrow at breakfast.”

“Goodnight,” Nico said, settling back down at the bed.

Leo hesitated in the doorway for a bit, fighting down the strange feeling that he didn’t want to leave. Nico raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m glad you’re back,” Leo told him, then exited the cabin. He didn’t miss Nico’s stunned expression as he shut the door behind him. Feeling lighter than he had in days, he made his way back to the Hephaestus cabin and slept like a rock.

He wasn’t surprised to see Nico among the early risers at breakfast the following morning. Nobody else from their group of friends were up yet, so Leo grinned as he joined Nico at the Hades table. Nico just rolled his eyes.

“So how are things in the Underworld?” Leo asked cheerfully. Nico shrugged.

“Nothing new, things rarely change down there,” Nico said. “Daedalus was glad to hear we succeeded. The gods may not be so happy about it, though.”

“Well, they were the ones who forgot about her in the first place,” Leo said irritatedly. “It was only fair that we took matters into our own hands.”

“No argument here,” Nico said. “Just a warning in case they come knocking.”

“Are you worried?”

“Not really,” Nico shrugged. “If they’re going to punish us, they will. Nothing we can do about it.”

Leo laughed. ”Since when are you so zen about stuff?”

“I have no idea what that means.” Nico frowned. Leo grinned and was just about to launch into a completely made up story about the origins of zen when Jason turned up.

“Nico!” he exclaimed. “Good to see you. When did you get back?”

“Last night,” Nico said, gesturing for Jason to join them. Jason seemed to hesitate a bit, then shrugged and sat down.

“How long are you staying?” Jason asked.

“A couple of days,” Nico said. “Apparently.”

“You better,” Leo muttered, and Jason frowned at him. The he looked at Nico, and then back at Leo again. He seemed confused.

“So Leo told us you helped him bring Calypso back,” Jason said a while later. Nico nodded.

“He needed someone with magic powers,” he shrugged. 

“Still, kind of you to help him,” Jason said.

“I was bored. I figured I might as well,” Nico said, and Leo made a face at him.

“Such enthusiasm about helping his friends,” Leo said. “I am moved to tears.”

“Hah, the day I see you moved to tears is the day I get my eyes checked,” Piper said, sitting down beside Jason. “Hi, Nico. Long time no see.”

“It hasn’t been that long. A couple of weeks or so,” Nico said, smiling briefly at her. “How was Los Angeles?”

“Full of people trying to butter me up. Sometimes literally,” Piper laughed. “I’m glad to be back.”

Jason put an arm around her, and Leo remembered being jealous of that, once upon a time. He wondered if Nico felt that way looking at Percy and Annabeth, who were heading over there now.

“So I see the Hades table is the place to be today,” Percy grinned as they sat down. “Hi Nico. You should have made the table bigger.”

“It seemed redundant at the time,” Nico said, rolling his eyes. “And you guys are all aware this is against the rules, right?”

“Details,” Percy said dismissively. “How are Hazel and Frank?”

“Sorry they couldn’t come. I saw them yesterday,” Nico said, then turned to Leo. “Frank says you should bring Calypso to New Rome sometime. She might like it.”

“Yeah, I should do that,” Leo said dismissively. “Are you finished? Let’s go to the bunker.”

“Wait, you can’t drag Nico away,” Percy said. “He’s the only one who belongs at this table.”

“And we haven’t seen him in a long time,” Annabeth inflicted.

“Sorry, I promised,” Nico said, getting up. “I’ll see you guys later.”

Leo smiled triumphantly as he and Nico went to put their trays away and started walking towards the bunker.

“Where’s Calypso, anyway?” Nico asked as made their way through the forest. Leo laughed.

“I introduced her to television and she’s suddenly waking up late. I think she watches the late night shows,” he said. “Speaking of which, there are a ton of movies that neither of you have probably seen that are pretty much compulsory. I’m thinking movie night.”

“Wouldn’t you rather it was just the two of you?” Nico asked, looking uncomfortable. Leo frowned. He _should_ want that, shouldn’t he? 

“Nah, movie dates are passé,” Leo said. “Besides, it’s for educational purposes.”

“Agreed, then,” Nico said. Leo smiled happily at him.

They reached the bunker, and Leo was strangely nervous when he opened the door. He mentally scolded himself. There was nothing to be nervous about. It was just Nico, and they had been alone in the bunker on several occasions before. Nothing had changed, right?

“Oh my gods,” Nico mumbled as they came in. “You weren’t kidding when you said ‘collection’.”

“These really don’t take long to make,” Leo said, slightly embarrassed as Nico took a closer look at the twenty or thirty little toys on Leo’s desk. 

“Do they do anything?” 

Leo scoffed. “Who do you think I am? _Of course_ they do stuff,” he said. “Here, I’ll show you.”

Somehow they ended up sitting on the floor while Leo showed him what each of the little toys could do. Nico was listening attentively to his explanations, and Leo couldn’t stop smiling. There was something incredibly cute about the way Nico looked with childlike wonder at his creations.

“These are really amazing,” Nico finally said when Leo was finished. “You could open a toy shop.”

Leo grinned. “Maybe if I get tired of being a mechanic,” he said. “In between projects, you know.”

“Can I have this one?” Nico asked, holding up the blue angel with the flapping wings. Leo grinned.

“You can have them all, if you want,” he said. “Not sure what you’d do with them, though.”

“Not everything needs to have a practical value,” Nico said, putting the angel away. “Just one is enough, though. Thanks.”

They remained on the floor in silence for a while.

“So what’s the next big project?” Nico asked. “Spaceships?”

Leo laughed. “Nah, that’s boring. Everyone is always making spaceships,” he said. “Maybe an oversized robot, big enough to live in.”

“That’s terrifying,” Nico said matter of factly. “And Daedalus sort of did that with his statues. Invent a teleportation device instead.”

“I have a teleportation device,” Leo grinned. “He’s sitting right in front of me.”

“Funny,” Nico said dryly. “What about when I’m not here?”

“Admit it. You’d feel much less special if I could replicate your powers.” Leo said, ignoring the question.

“Implying that you can’t,” Nico smirked. “Who’d have thought the great Leo could be beaten by simple teleportation?”

“Are you challenging me?” Leo grinned. “Oh, it’s on now. What do I get when I beat you?”

“I wasn’t suggesting a bet, but sure,” Nico said. “What do you want?”

“How about you as my personal slave for a month?” Leo said. Nico gave him an incredulous look.

“A day,” he said. 

“What, you scared?” Leo said. “I thought you didn’t think I could do it.”

“I don’t, but I know you,” Nico smiled. “A day, no more.”

“Fine,” Leo said, reaching out to shake on it. If he held on to Nico’s hand a second longer than strictly necessary, neither of them commented on it.

They walked back to camp and found Calypso talking to Annabeth and Piper by the stables. She frowned as she saw them. Leo was getting the feeling she didn’t like Nico very much. That irritated him, to be honest.

They spent most of the day by the arena, watching the other half bloods train. Calypso said it was soothing, since it was much the same as the world she could remember, but Leo wasn’t really paying attention. He was itching for something to do with his hands, but at the others’ insistence he had left his tool belt in his cabin. He had resorted to pulling up grass from the ground one straw at a time just to have something to do.

“Here,” Nico said, suddenly standing above him with a pencil and a notebook in his hands. “Entertain yourself before you do something drastic and decide to blow up camp.”

Leo grinned widely as he took the notebook and pencil. “Thanks, man. You're an angel.”

Nico blushed at that. “I'm really not,” he mumbled as he walked back into the arena, where he was helping Percy give a lesson in sword fighting. Leo smiled at his turned back for a moment, then opened the notebook and begun sketching out ideas for a teleportation device. He could use a lot of the same research he’d done to get Calypso back, but the machine itself had to be different and possible to carry with him. He was so caught up in his own thoughts it took a long time to realize Calypso was looking at him with sad eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, honestly worried, but she shook her head and looked back at the arena, where Nico, Percy and Jason seemed to be demonstrating a three-way battle.

“I’ll tell you later,” she said. Leo almost pressed on, but Percy and Jason seemed to both have turned on Nico now, and he couldn’t help watching as the boy manage to parry both their blow and gain the higher ground while putting Percy between himself and Jason, suddenly making Percy fight both of them. Nico was really good at sword fighting, Leo realized, and it was kinda interesting to watch. He didn’t work more on his teleportation device that day.

Calypso was pretty silent during dinner. They had all ended up at the Poseidon table, since it was bigger than the Hades table and Percy didn’t think his dad would mind. Chiron hadn’t looked too happy about the arrangement, but he hadn’t commented. It was one of the liveliest dinner Leo had ever experienced at Camp Half-Blood, and even Nico was laughing. Percy and Annabeth didn’t seem to bother him.

Calypso took Leo aside after dinner, leading him away to a private spot. She still seemed sad.

“What’s going on?” Leo asked, and she laughed bitterly.

“I want to be mad at you,” she said. “I _am_ a bit mad at you. But I shouldn’t be. You kept your promise.”

“I did, yeah,” Leo said. “Why are you mad at me?”

She shook her head, smiling. “You haven’t even realized,” she mused. “You’re breaking my heart without even realizing it. That has happened before, but never this way.”

“I’m not breaking your heart. What are you talking about?” Leo frowned, trying to make sense of this. She suddenly looked sternly at him.

“You know. If you really think about it, you know,” she said. “I’m not the one anymore, am I?”

Leo started blankly at her for a moment, then it dawned on him. “Nico,” he said. “You think Nico and I are...”

“I know you’re not,” Calypso interrupted. “But I know you want to be. Am I wrong?”

Leo wanted to say yes, of course she was wrong, but she wasn’t. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how blind he’d been. He’d been looking at Nico that way for a long time now. He wasn’t even sure when it had started, but he had been so concentrated on his promise to Calypso that he hadn’t noticed.

“I’m sorry,” Leo finally said, and she smiled, leaning in to kiss his cheek.

“I know,” she said. “But you still saved me, which is more than anyone else have managed. Maybe I can find someone new on my own, now that I have the chance.”

“Men are going to flock around you the moment you leave camp,” Leo said. “You can have one for each day of the week.”

She laughed at that. “I’d be happy with just one,” she said. “You should go talk to him. Good luck.”

“You too,” Leo said, and she turned around to walk towards the Big House, leaving Leo to fight down the threatening panic attack on his own. He should have gone to knock on Nico’s door, but he couldn’t. This was too new, too scary, and he just couldn’t face it right now. Leo ran off towards the bunker instead, burying himself in sketches of teleportation devices.

 _Be my slave for a month,_ he though. _Yeah, Leo. Real smooth. So smooth you didn’t even realize it._ And all the little toys, just because Nico had been impressed with that one car he built on a whim. His frustration when Nico disappeared. His irritation when he thought Nico might not be over Percy. His hand in Nico’s hair. His eyebrows burning the first time he heard Nico’s laugh.

“Fuck!” Leo exclaimed when his sketches suddenly caught fire just from touching his hands. “Shit!” he swore as he stomped out the flames, willing himself to be calm. It wasn't easy. How the hell had he been so _blind_?

Leo sank down on the floor, burying his head in his hands. What was he going to do?

 

He eventually decided that he needed to talk to Nico, that it was the only way to settle this. So naturally he went to talk to him right away, ignoring the fact that it was 3 am. He had to do this now. If he didn’t he would chicken out. Once he stood in front of the door to the Hades cabin, he almost chickened out anyway.

Leo took a deep breath, willing himself not to catch fire, then knocked on the door. There was no answer, so he tried again. This time there was a noise from inside, and Leo had to force himself to stand still, despite every instinct telling him to run away. The door opened moments later.

“What in Hades’ name do you want, Valdez?” Nico groaned, looking like he’d just woken up. Which he probably had. He was wearing the black pajama again and his hair was a mess. Leo resisted the urge to reach out and drag his fingers through it.

“I need to talk to you,” Leo said. “Can I come in?”

“Can’t it wait until tomorrow?” Nico asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Not really, no,” Leo said, walking past him into the cabin. There was no light on. “How can you see anything in this darkness?”

Nico grumbled something and turned on the light before walking back to his bed and sitting down. “This had better be good,” he muttered.

Suddenly Leo was extremely nervous. This had been a bad idea. What if Nico rejected him? He probably would. There was no way he could have feelings like that for Leo. He should have come in the morning. At least then he’d have a chance of being let down more easily. As it was Nico would probably laugh in his face.

“Well?” Nico said, raising his eyebrows expectantly.

“It’s all your fault!” Leo blurted out, suddenly angry.

“What?” Nico asked, sounding confused as Leo started pacing back and forth in the cabin.

“I had all these plans,” Leo said. “Leo and Calypso’s Auto Repair and Diner. Marriage. Maybe kids. Not going to happen now.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Calypso just broke up with me,” Leo said. “Sort of. We were never really together. We could have been, though. If it hadn’t been for you.”

“How is this my fault?” Nico demanded. “I did everything to help you get her back!”

“Exactly,” Leo exclaimed. “You’re so fucking selfless! Always helping people without asking anything in return! You basically risked your life to help me, despite having no reason to. How the hell am I supposed to react to _that_?”

“You’re not making any sense,” Nico said. He seemed angry, and a bit hurt.

"Fuck,” Leo swore to himself, tugging at his own hair. Why was this so hard? He was coming off as an asshole, and saying all the wrong things. _Ok, Leo, you can do this!,_ he thought. _Just tell him, and then it’ll be over. Just tell him._

Leo took a deep breath. “I like you,” he blurted out.

Nico stared at him in silence. He seemed stunned. 

“Please say something,” Leo said when the silence became unbearable. Nico blinked, like he woke from some sort of trance.

“I swear, if you’re making fun of me...” Nico said, and threats really wasn’t what Leo wanted right now.

“I’m not. If anyone’s getting laughed at here, it’s me,” Leo said. “I like you. How was I not supposed to fall for you after everything?”

Nico turned silent again, and Leo let out a frustrated groan. “Please, I don’t care if you hit me of laugh at me, but do _something_. I can’t stand this!”

“So you’re saying,” Nico said slowly. “That you resent me, because you have a crush on me and it has destroyed your plans for the future, and you can’t stand it?”

“Yes!” Leo exclaimed, then frowned. “No! I don’t resent you. I just hate that I had a chance with Calypso and no chance with you and I fell for you anyway. I mean, how stupid is that?”

He tried to grin at the last part, but it didn’t come out right. His face felt uncomfortable, so he let the fake gin drop. Nico wouldn’t have bought it anyway.

“If you think you have no chance, why tell me?” Nico asked, and now Leo did laugh, bitterly.

“Because I’m far more selfish than you are,” Leo said. “Aren’t you going to throw me out?”

“I should,” Nico said, smiling slightly. “That was the most unromantic confession I’ve ever heard.”

“So I’m not romantic. Sue me,” Leo said, bitterly. “I’m a mechanic. I don’t get people.”

“Obviously,” Nico said. “Or you would have noticed that I like you too.”

Now it was Leo’s turn to be stunned for a second. “No way,” he said, starting to grin for real this time. “Really?”

Nico smiled shyly at him and nodded. Leo laughed as he walked over and threw his arms around him. Nico awkwardly hugged him back, and Leo couldn’t stop laughing. He couldn’t believe this was actually happening to him. He had _never_ had any luck with love before. 

“There has to some sort of catch,” Leo mumbled. “This is too good to be true.”

“Mmm,” Nico murmured into his neck, and damn if that didn’t send shivers down his spine. “I was kinda thinking the same thing. Maybe I’m dreaming. Though I doubt I would have dreamed up a confession like that.”

“Oh shut up,” Leo said, pulling back to sit down beside him. “At least I actually said something.”

“True,” Nico laughed, and Leo really, really liked that sound. He liked the way Nico’s dark eyes shone when he made it. 

“So how do you feel about kissing?” Leo asked. Nico laughed again, nervously this time. That was pretty cute as well.

“I’ve never actually done it,” he said, blushing deeply. 

“First time for everything, right?” Leo grinned, then proceeded to bring their faces together. His hands were shaking, but he tried not to let it show as he cupped Nico’s face and moved to meet his lips. 

It was strange at first. Nico had none of that softness Leo had briefly experienced with Calypso, and Leo had no idea if he was doing this right. He experimentally tried licking Nico’s lips, and he opened his mouth, so Leo tried sticking his tongue in and… yeah, okay, _wow_! That was nice. Nico tasted vaguely of toothpaste, and Leo realized he hadn’t brushed his teeth yet, but by the way Nico was twirling his tongue around Leo’s he didn’t mind. Leo tried pulling them closer, to get a better reach, and accidently clashed their teeth together. That hurt a bit, and Nico pulled back. 

“Sorry,” Leo said.

“I don’t mind,” Nico said, giving him an amused smile. “Do you know there’s smoke coming out of your ears?”

“What? Shit!” Leo said. He could feel himself growing red from embarrassment as Nico laughed at him. It was a nice sound though, so it might be worth it. 

“It’s not dangerous, is it?” Nico asked, getting closer again. Leo shook his head.

“Only to my dignity,” Leo said. “On the other hand you can tell everybody your boyfriend is smoking hot.”

Nico hesitated. “Are you my boyfriend?”

“Isn’t that usually where the whole ’I like you I like you too’-thing goes?” Leo asked. “Or are you saying you’ve changed your mind?”

“No, just making sure,” Nico said, leaning in to kiss him again. This time it was good from the get-go, and they were both making pretty obscene sounds into each other’s mouths. _Gods,_ Leo thought. _I’m the one making him make those noises._ The thought went straight to his groin, and he grabbed Nico more aggressively now, his hands finding the rim of his pajama shirt and touching the bare skin beneath. Nico gasped against his mouth, but disappointingly enough he pulled back.

“Don’t you think that’s a bit..ehrm,” he said. “A bit too fast?”

“I think we’re two teenage virgins and that’s something that can be changed,” Leo said jokingly. Nico blushed violently at that, and Leo was pretty sure his own ears were still smoking. His eyebrows might have even caught fire again.

“You know, I don’t think my father would appreciate you burning the cabin down,” Nico said, sounding vaguely amused, though his face was still read. 

“I can’t help it,” Leo said. “But you’re probably right. We should stop. I might burn you.”

“I don’t mind so much, as long as you don’t put me on fire,” Nico said, stroking Leo’s cheek. His hand was soothingly cool against Leo’s burning skin.

“Masochist,” Leo grinned as he pulled Nico closer again. 

“Maybe a little,” Nico murmured. “It’s one way of knowing you’re alive.”

“I can think of other ways,” Leo said, leaning in for another kiss. Their third one. Leo was keeping track.

“So, you mind me staying here tonight?” Leo asked when they parted. Nico looked a bit uncomfortable.

“Leo, I told you...”

“Get your mind out of the gutter,” Leo laughed. “I just don’t want to do the walk of shame back to my cabin. It’s pretty late.”

“True,” Nico smiled. “No, I don’t mind. You can stay.”

“Great,” Leo said, kicking of his shoes and properly lying down on the bed they’d been sitting on. Nico raised his eyebrows, and Leo gave him an innocent look. “What? There’s no way I’m sleeping on my own in here. I’d have nightmares.”

“Smooth,” Nico muttered, but he promptly turned off the light and lay down beside Leo in the darkness. It could have been romantic, except that Leo couldn’t see shit.

“It’s pitch black in here,” Leo complained. “Seriously, it’s like I’ve been blind folded.”

“Close your eyes and it won’t matter,” Nico urged, and Leo could feel his arms around him, pulling him closer. Nico’s lips briefly passed over his, and yeah, maybe it was kinda hot, just feeling and not seeing. He reached out to return the embrace, much less sure in his movements than Nico was.

“Go to sleep,” Nico murmured close to Leo’s forehead. It was cheesy, but Leo actually felt safe, laying in Nico’s arms. He hoped Nico felt the same. He finally closed his eyes, not that it made any difference, and relaxed. It took a while for him to fall asleep, mostly because he was reveling in the feeling. Nico was cool and soothing, and Leo felt like he belonged. He felt loved.

 

It was still dark when Leo woke up the following morning. His first thought was that he was going blind, then he remembered where he was. And who he was with.

“Good morning,” Nico said, sounding a bit nervous. Leo could feel his hand playing with Leo’s hair, and it felt kind of nice. Leo grinned happily. This he could get used to.

“Hey,” he said, nuzzling a bit closer to the boy beside him. “What time is it?”

“Around ten, I think,” Nico said. “I just woke up myself. We were up pretty late.”

“Well, I’m in no hurry,” Leo said into Nico’s neck. “But some lights would be nice.”

Leo felt Nico move as he reached for the light switch, and then he had to shut his eyes for a moment, because the bright light actually hurt. Nico chuckled at him, and Leo finally managed to take a look at him. His eyes widened in surprise. Nico actually looked happy. Genuinely happy. Could that really be because of Leo? A warmth spread through his stomach at the thought, and he leaned in for a kiss.

“You have morning breath,” Nico murmured against his mouth, but he didn’t seem particularly bothered by it. Leo grinned happily into the kiss. Yeah, he could definitely get used to this.

Which was when the door to the cabin opened.

“Hey, Nico. Have you seen...Oh my gods!”

They pulled away from each other quickly to look around. Percy was standing in the doorway, mouth gaping widely, looking like he’d been hit by lightning. It really wasn’t the time or place, but he looked so funny Leo couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing.

“Your face,” he said, between the guffaws. Nico, who had looked mortified for a second, was starting to look amused. Percy was still staring at them, and Leo made a face at him. “Close the door, we’ll be out in a minute.”

The door slammed shut, and Leo kept laughing as he pulled Nico close again. “Well, cat’s out of the bag now,” he said, pressing his lips against Nico’s. Nico pulled away after just a brief touch. 

“Everyone will know. Doesn’t that bother you?” Nico asked. Leo rolled his eyes.

“Nah, I didn’t want it to be a secret anyway,” Leo said. “I’ve had to deal with everybody else touching in public for too long. About time I got to do it myself.”

“It’s not entirely appropriate.”

“Who cares?” Leo laughed. “Come on, let’s go laugh at Percy for being so shocked.”

After Nico got dressed, which Leo may or may not have been sneaking glances at, they left the cabin. Percy were talking animatedly to Jason outside. Jason was standing with his arms crossed over his chest and looked pretty calm.

“Hi, guys,” Leo grinned. “Lovely morning isn't it?”

“So you and Nico, huh?” Jason said, smiling at them. 

Nico blushed and looked away, even more so when Leo laughed and put an arm around his waist. “Who’d have thought, right?” he said.

“What about Calypso?” Percy blurted out. 

“We were never really together, and we talked things through yesterday,” Leo shrugged.

“Oh,” Percy said, visibly relaxing and starting to smile. “Well, in that case. Congratulations.”

“Thanks, man” Leo said, starting to drag Nico away by the hips. “Come on. Breakfast. I’m hungry.”

 

To say the other campers were surprised by the turn of events would be an understatement. People were openly staring at them at breakfast, especially after Leo decided to make the situation clear to them by giving Nico a deep kiss before sitting down to eat. Nico was completely red through the entire meal, just looking down at his plate and muttering things Leo couldn’t hear. However, he didn’t run away, so he couldn’t have been as mortified as he seemed.

Piper and Annabeth hugged them both when they heard about it, and even Calypso smiled, though she seemed a little sad. Leo honestly felt bad for her, and made a conscious effort to keep the touching to a minimum when she was around. Which led to him dragging Nico to the bunker for privacy just a few hours later.

“Are those your plans for teleportation?” Nico said as he saw the messy work Leo had done last night.

“Yeah, I’m still building it, you know,” Leo leered at him. “Having you as a slave for a day has a whole new range of possibilities now.”

Nico blushed as he rolled his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re planning, but I doubt you’d need to win the bet for me to agree to it,” he said. “And if you do, maybe you shouldn’t consider it.”

“Spoilsport,” Leo said, pulling him closer. “You’re just saying that because you don’t want me to win.”

“I still don’t think you’ll be able to pull it off,” Nico smirked at him, and Leo grinned.

“Watch me,” he said. “I’ll make it, and you’ll never be able to run away from me again.” 

Nico smiled at that, and Leo brought their lips together in a greedy kiss. This wasn’t something he had been looking for, but right now, it was all he ever wanted.

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure if I'll write more for this pairing, but it was fun. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Comments are always appreciated, either here or on [Tumblr](http://betsib.tumblr.com/).


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